Video Blackjack

Video blackjack is a playing option at land-based casinos now. These gaming machines allow players to enjoy video versions of the most popular 21 variants. The games offer a different house edge and social dynamic, so they aren’t for everyone. Gamblers who don’t want to be troubled with dealers and up to 6 other players at the table might prefer video blackjack, which isn’t much different than the online version many computer gaming aficionados enjoy.

This article offers basic tips to get the most out of your bankroll. This guide to video twenty-one may not assure you win, but it assures players get an optimal return on the money they gamble. I’ll start with basic strategy, which is a good idea in all versions of twenty-one.

Learn Basic Strategy

Basic blackjack strategy assures you have optimal results. Basic strategy is a set of plays for every scenario in the game. No matter what combination of cards you hold and the dealer is showing, a best play is known to those who’ve calculated the odds. Charts with these suggested moves are found online for free. Books exist with detailed basic strategy charts, but printable charts exist online which cost nothing to print-off, so use those instead.

Card Counting Won’t Help

Don’t expect card counting to help. People who read blackjack strategy books are taught the serious gamblers only get an advantage if they count cards. This is true, but video gaming makes this a forlorn hope. The deck reshuffles so quickly (often every hand) you can’t gain an advantage by counting the high cards and low cards. With a high house edge, you wouldn’t have an advantage using this method, anyway.

Rules Variations to Avoid

Some rules are not to your advantage. Avoid the following rules at all costs: natural 21 pays either 6:5, 7:5, or 1:1. Avoid games where the dealer hits on soft 17, if possible. Avoid rules which only allow you to double on 10 or 11 only (or 9-10-11), or which don’t let you double after splitting. If you are limited to splitting only to 2 or 3 hands, avoid the game. Players may not be able to avoid all these rules, but try to find games with as few of them as possible. The most important is to find games which pays 3:2 on a blackjack.

Lower Coin Denominations

The coin denominations on video 21 varies from one casino to the next, but it’s common to find the ranges lower than at the live gaming tables. Limits often range between $0.20 and $100. This means high rollers might not like the virtual games of twenty-one, but the low stakes players like them better. Many low dollar blackjack players prefer the machines for this reason, because they can make lower wagers than they would at the tables. This is a win-win for both players and casino management, because this allows the casino to move more low-ball players off their blackjack tables, where the establishment needs to pay a dealer to take these bets.

Higher House Edge

Video blackjack has a house edge near 4%. This is a lot higher than the optimal level on a game dealt by a real dealer. Twenty-one rules affect your odds, but most versions of 21 have a house edge between 0.5% and 1.5%. That doesn’t mean every player at the table gets those odds. Only those who use proper strategy have anywhere near a 98.5% or 99.5% payback percentage. If you’re a player who searches for best payback percentage, synonymous with a low house edge for negative expectation games, try live dealer games. The odds on video twenty-one are going to be worse than the live game.

Random Number Generator

That being said, people can trust random number generators. Laws vary from one country to the next, but many machines won’t let a casino operator chance the odds on their machines for four minutes before or after money is placed in the machine. In fact, some jurisdictions require chips to be changed out for changes to be made in the house edge. If you’re playing at a licensed casino, don’t worry about whether they change the odds during the game.

Faster Hand Rate

Where an RNG comes into play is the faster hand rate. No matter how fast a dealer is, they cannot deal hands as quickly as a video blackjack machine. One of the best strategies for playing 21 is to maintain your patience and draw the game out. You don’t have to play as fast as the machines allow you to play–go at your own pace. One of the most important tips is to avoid autoplay features, which only speed up the game to your detriment. I wouldn’t use the “default bet” feature, either, because this makes the game go quicker.

Under any circumstances, don’t fall for the multi-hand blackjack trick–this exposes you to the house edge at a much faster rate. Strategic reasons exist to play multiple hands at a time, but only if you divide the size of your bet by the number of hands you play at a time. If you play 5 hands of blackjack at once, then divide the size of your bet by 5. This maintains the same bet level you’d normally play at, but limits the volatility of the game somewhat, if that’s what you want.

Shorter Game Sessions

Good reasons exist to keep your game sessions short and limiting the number of bets altogether. Most gamblers want more gambling and not less, so it’s hard to convince gamblers of this. The more bets you make, the more likely the game results are going to look like the probability of winning and losing. If the house edge states you’ll lose $4 for every $100 you bet, then the more times you bet, the more likely those odds catch up to you. If you had a theoretical advantage, my advise to you would be completely different.

Solitude – Pros and Cons

All video gamblers deal with solitude. If you tend to look at the slot machine and video poker players as solitary creatures dwelling on the edges of casino society, you might not like the 21 gaming machines. If the loud-mouth player next to you tends to get on your nerves, then you might prefer players the video version of the game. Players who get turned off by (what they consider) insolent casino personnel might prefer having no interaction with the staff. They also don’t have to leave a tip.

No Novice Player Worries

Some gamblers complain that bad players affect the odds at their tables. It’s been proven by mathematical computer simulations bad play doesn’t negatively affect your odds of winning. My suggestion is to ignore what other players do (or how it affects your game), but if bad tactics annoys you, the gaming machines might be your answer.

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